White Paper

Horizon View 6 Blast Performance Features

Date:

Aug. 21, 2014

Author:

John Hales

Abstract

With VMware's recent release of the Horizon Suite (specifically View 6), VMware has taken the performance and usability features and put them all under the Blast moniker. This category of features is grouped from a marketing perspective but will retain their technical terms in the documentation, similar to how the term vSphere encompasses both ESXi and vCenter. Learn about the various features of the components that comprise the Blast family, including a brief discussion of what they are, improvements in version 6, and any notes or requirements for implementation.

Sample

Introduction

With VMware's recent release of the Horizon Suite (specifically View 6), VMware has taken the performance and usability features and put them all under the Blast moniker. This category of features is grouped from a marketing perspective but will retain their technical terms in the documentation, similar to how the term vSphere encompasses both ESXi and vCenter.

The current version of the Horizon View Client on all supported platforms (including Windows, Mac, Ubuntu Linux, iOS, and Android) has all the features described in this white paper (support may vary with older clients or with Thin or Zero clients). Upgrade the View client or check with the manufacturer for supported features and upgrade paths.

This white paper examines various features of the components that comprise the Blast family, including a brief discussion of what they are, improvements in version 6, and any notes or requirements for implementation.

Blast Performance ComponentsIn branding all the client-side performance features as part of the Blast family, VMware is trying to show the performance available from View, and probably, make this list extensible as new features come out. Not all situations require all the features here. In fact, in many cases, none are really required at all. Part of your challenge in designing a View environment is determining which features various groups of users need and then ensuring that those features are deployed properly on the View Connection servers, virtual desktops, and endpoint devices as required.

If you're upgrading, remember to upgrade the View Agent in the virtual desktops as well to take advantage of all the changes when you upgrade the rest of your View environment. Also note that the Remote Experience Agent that was a separate installation in View 5 is now included as part of the standard View Agent in View 6. The View 6 Agent is required to take advantage of the many Blast features described in this document.

Blast Adaptive UX

What Is It?The PCoIP protocol delivers desktops through any of the View Clients with adaptive adjustments to bandwidth and latency changes to deliver a great experience over a LAN or WAN. This feature also includes delivery directly to ant HTML5-compatible web browser without the use of a View Client or PCoIP.

Improvements in View 6VMware changed three defaults listed here as part of View 6:

- Build to Lossless: Now set to Off, this parameter defines whether PCoIP will ever try to build to the "perfect" lossless image or just to "perceptually lossless." In most scenarios, VMware has recommended this change for several versions but this should be configured to On for medical imaging, graphics artists, web designers, and other professions in which exact picture details are important.

- Maximum Initial Image Quality: Now set to 80% (down from 90%), this is the best quality image that PCoIP will try to build (and may stop at if build to lossless is disabled or if the frame changes too quickly, it may not even get to this level). This setting applies to rapidly scrolling through content or video; static content can still be built to lossless as time and bandwidth permit.

- Minimum Initial Image Quality: Now configured at 40% (down from 50%), this is the lowest quality and highest compression allowed if the network is congested and the picture keeps changing, otherwise it can continue to improve.